


Piety

by bubblewrapstargirl



Series: Paternal Egality [4]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Casual Cannibalism, F/M, Gen, Investigations, M/M, Murder Family, Murder Husbands, Murder Mystery, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 14:42:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12843369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblewrapstargirl/pseuds/bubblewrapstargirl
Summary: The Čechy Nestvůra, the ghoul of Bohemia, kills in sequences of four.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since there is no Season 4 (yet), my Clarice is a latina, played by Natalie Martinez.

Clarice does not know what to expect from the team in Prague. She’s never been outside of the States before, aside from one ill-fated romantic weekend in Paris, too dedicated on work to consider holidays so far afield. She is anticipating professionalism, perhaps even to a greater degree than the relationships she shares with her colleagues at Quantico, many of whom she socialises with and considers her friends.

Still, she endeavours to approach the collaboration with Interpol without any preconceptions about European law enforcement. She finds them cool, and somewhat detached, though she is invited along for after work drinks. No one stands out as a potential friend, however, and some part of her is disappointed she won’t be gaining an international pen pal from the experience.

Clarice has come to Prague to assess whether the murders of the _Čechy Nestvůra_ , the ghoul of Bohemia, match up to a cold case she worked on in Acadiana, LA, three years ago. Particular details of the case were flagged, when the Czech authorities searched through the international databases. They reached out to Clarice, being the senior member of the investigating team. After a through assessment of their casefiles from previous years, she concluded that the killer was the same. To her surprise, her secondment was approved, and she found herself on a red eye to eastern Europe.

Prague is wonderful, and she hopes that its association with the gruesome murders does not sour her opinion on the city, or the wider Czech Republic. Now that she’s had an unexpected taste of it, Clarice may have gained a real appreciation for long-distance tourism. She arrives in time to spend one day on paperwork, before there is a second crime scene. Now, they are halfway through the anticipated cycle. The Bohemian ghoul kills in sequences of four.

The victim is a middle-aged woman, well-groomed and with evidence of subtle cosmetic surgery, keeping her neck and forehead smoother than they should be. Her fingertips are missing. Clarice suspects they would have been ragged, but they should be manicured. They were chipped from causing defensive wounds, so the killer removed them to deny them the possibility of evidence. It is secondary to their overall picture, as the woman is laid out like an oil painting, seated at a table with a bowl of fruit, holding her own heart in her left hand. The throat has been carved open, probably pre-mortum, the esophagus filled with an offering of fruits and tiny spring flowers. More flowers spill out from her open chest cavity. Their sweet scent is almost overpowering, mingled irrevocably with the metallic tang of blood.

She spends a long time picking over the crime scene, trying to understand the message the killer has woven, but it remains as elusive as it did in Acadiana. There are undoubted similarities, the feeling that she has wandered in through a picture frame one of them. Something about the quality of light, and how it pools in different spots, highlighting various pieces of the scene. There is an unreality to it, as though she could reach out with her hand, and her fingertips would come away sticky with wet paint.

The image is shattered as the forensics team begin dismantling the display, and she exchanges a few brief nods with her new colleagues. She has time to shower off the grime from the flight and get some shut eye, before she joins them for the autopsy in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

The pathologist is a young man, perhaps five years Clarice’s junior, with a head of tumbling brown curls. Her partner for the duration of the case, Senior Detective Ivan Dvořák, leads her through the maze of basement corridors and introduces them, coffee in hand. Dvořák is a classically handsome man, greying around the temples, with a wholesome smile. He had met Clarice at the front entrance of the morgue, holding two take out cups. Coffee was always welcome, and such a simple gesture touched her. It was the kind of old-fashioned polite manners, that were sometimes glaringly lacking in Quantico.

“This is our prodigio italiano, medico Teodoro Guglielmo.” The hard vowels of Dvořák’s voice soften around his lilting musical pronunciation of Italian.

Clarice hopes she manages to adequately smother her wince. She had attempted a few basic Czech words, downloaded to her phone to practice quietly on the plane. No one had warned her she’d have to pronounce any beautiful Italian. If she attempts the name, she will butcher it, but as Dr Guglielmo offers her an ungloved hand to shake, she cannot stop herself.

“Pleasure to meet you, Dr Goo-leel-mo.” She says carefully. Despite her fumbling, and the early hour, the pathologist’s smile is wide and bright and utterly charming.

“Please, call me Teo, everyone does.” He shrugs easily; “Váňuška likes his little joke. You should see how the rookies go pale, when he pretends I do not speak Ceština. Beastly man.” Teo clucks, playfully.

Dvořák sends him a flirtatious wink. Clarice would feel uncomfortable witnessing the exchange, were it not for Teo’s indifference. He does not redden, roll his eyes, wiggle his eyebrows or provide any other indication of an office romance. In fact, he becomes grave and serious.

“Now I direct you to what remains of poor Paní Smithová.” Teo says, indicating the woman laid out on a slab with one open fist. The sharp staccato movement reminds Clarice of a musical conductor directing an orchestra. Teo directs them further into the lab with clipped, controlled steps. He is a man who does not fidget, she thinks. His non-reaction to Dvořák may not have been an indication of being inured, but of self-discipline.

She wonders if they are a couple, and then dismisses the idea. Now that pleasantries have been exchanged, they are entirely professional with each other. Focused on the case, as she should be, instead of analysing her temporary colleagues.

Mrs Smithova looks small with the flowers and fruit removed. Her stomach has been removed, its contents poured out for Teo to analyse. He explains that she had not eaten for eight hours at least, her wrists and ankles showing ligature marks. The Ghoul of Bohemia has a shifting MO; sometimes he kills his victims quickly, after drugging them, taking them to a secondary location, where they wake up and are killed. And sometimes, he drugs them and ties them up, holding them for several hours, alive but unable to escape, before he finally deigns to kill them. The pattern is always the same; technique A, then B, then the cycle repeats, like a short poem with four lines. The very first two murders, almost fifteen years ago, were not immediately connected, because of this variation. It was only as the months went on and the killings continued, that the pattern established.

The first spree lasted a year, with twelve deaths, one each month. It lead to a state of terror, the anticipation of another death every four weeks. People left the region in droves. Then the following January, nothing. It was not until almost half the year was gone that they started up again; only four the second time. The next year had eight, and every year since then, went back down to four.

The killer was establishing a timeframe that best suited to his calendar, Clarice thinks. Though the four deaths in Acadiana suggested that the murderer may have been killing in other countries, when he wasn’t terrorising the Czech Republic. Perhaps he simply enjoyed a long annual holiday, exploring a new killing ground. Maybe he travelled for work. It was a lead worth following up, if she could find a pattern to the months when the killer was confined here, and the times he was free to roam outside the borders of his country.


End file.
